As I was stewing, Ruijerd spoke. “I had expected to one day marry a human.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because of you, the Superd are recovering. The people of the Biheiril Kingdom and the ogre tribe have welcomed us warmly. As it was with the ogres, one day, one of the Superd will form a bond of blood with one of the royal family or the nobility. It has been proposed that in that case, the first should be me.”
“Huh.” They’d talked that over…? Well, that made sense. Ruijerd’s position in the village was as a sort of advisor to the village head. He was an old, respected war hero. Like the village idol… Well, not quite like that, but he was sort of like a guardian angel. He would marry some Biheiril princess or noblewoman. For the Biheiril Kingdom, that’d mean peace of mind, as the Superd would then protect the kingdom.
“But if I were allowed to choose… Rudeus, I would join your family.”
I felt something warm blossom in my heart. The friendship of the Biheiril Kingdom would help the Superd. No doubt it would help them far more than blood ties with my family. But Ruijerd chose my family. He chose me!
Wait, not me! Thank goodness. I was about to turn into Girldeus.
At that moment, something occurred to me.
“You’re happy with Norn, then?”
“What do you mean?” Ruijerd looked dubious.
“Norn is… How can I put this? She’s, well, pretty selfish. She sometimes says insensitive things without really thinking about the consequences. If, hypothetically, you had a fight as husband and wife, she might tactlessly blurt something out about your past.”
Ruijerd was silent. I hadn’t expected that to come out of my mouth, and I regretted it. I was here to support Norn. I needed to talk up her good points, but she did have some shortcomings.
“I think she has the hang of all the housework, but I can’t say if she’ll be any good at it if it’s her main occupation. She can learn, but she’s not very good at applying what she learns or working things out, and she usually messes things up the first time. It’s easy in Sharia, but in the Superd village, I’m sure there’ll be a lot to figure out. She might be a real burden.”
Look, there are other women of marriageable age in my family. Like, say, Aisha. To be honest, Aisha is more talented than Norn. She can do housework, and she can look after kids. There’s nothing Norn can do that Aisha can’t. I can’t help but wonder if you’d really be happy with Norn.
I wanted to support Norn, but I also liked Ruijerd. I wanted them both to be happy, so I needed to be sure neither would be dissatisfied.
“But that is the result of her doing her very best, is it not?” Ruijerd countered. “I know Norn. I know her strengths and flaws.” I was at a loss for words. Ruijerd continued insistently. “You do too, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
Norn had lots of good points. I didn’t know that much about what Norn was like these days, but she had learned to care about other people. People had stopped comparing her to Aisha, so she’d stopped being unnecessarily servile. She didn’t get hysterical as much, and she didn’t fight with Aisha anymore. She was caring too. She didn’t take the respect home with her, but her classmates and the younger students admired her. She’d had lots of friends at her fifteenth birthday party. Even now, younger students sometimes came to our house to ask Norn’s advice about their studies or the student council.
Norn tried her hardest at everything. She’d never be the best, but she was competent. Plenty of things didn’t come naturally for her, so maybe she didn’t seem like much of a catch. And when compared to Aisha, it was night and day.
But why compare them? Norn worked hard and made steady progress. She’d keep that up for the rest of her life because that was who she was. She was a good kid—a little sister I could be proud of.
Ruijerd knew how hard she tried. He didn’t need me to tell him about her strengths or weaknesses or how hard she worked. He loved it all.
“Do you promise to always protect Norn?” I asked him at last.
“Yes,” Ruijerd said firmly. Of course he would. He’d protect her till death parted them.
“I expect Norn will struggle after getting married, surrounded by people from a different race and separated from her family. Will you support her?”
“Yes,” Ruijerd vowed. He would for the rest of his life.
“Do you promise to keep loving her even when she gets sulky over nothing and says unkind things?”
“Yes.”
I bet he’d hold her through it.
“Norn follows the Millis faith… Do you promise to stay faithful?”
“Yes.”
That one was obvious. Ruijerd wouldn’t be swayed by any woman’s charms.
“Norn’s an even bigger crybaby than me. You don’t mind that?”
“I do not. I will not give either of you reason to cry.”
Too late. Fat tears were streaming down my cheeks. Ruijerd spoke little, but his eyes were clear. “I do not mind. I understand all of that.”
The memory of our journey across the Central Continent after the displacement incident came back to me. So long as I was with Ruijerd, I felt safe. No matter what monsters came after us, Ruijerd kept us safe.
Admittedly, he had some weaknesses when he wasn’t fighting monsters, but so does everyone. It’d be fine if Norn helped him in those areas. Given who she was now, I was sure she could do it. If not, Ruijerd would have never said he wanted to marry her.
The tension left my shoulders as relief washed over me.
“Take good care of my sister,” I said. Then finally, I bowed my head.